1902.] AND PHEASANT-TAILED JAgANA. 263 



I once kept a young bird of this species, which I obtained 

 when nearly full-fledged. It fed well on canary-seed and maggots, 

 and I kept it till it was full-grown, but it showed no more 

 tendency to become tame than an old bird. 



I am rather astonished at Blyth's failure to keep this species 

 alive, as I do not consider it hard to manage, except for its 

 tendency to fly against netting and to abrade its bill by its futile 

 attempts to escape. If kept in a cage with iipright bars it is 

 cei'tain to hurt itself, but in a hutch with netted front, or a good- 

 sized aviary, it will do well, and some have survived for a year at 

 the Calcutta Zoological Gardens, though several succumbed after 

 this on getting access to unsoaked grain. 



II. The Pheasant-tailed Jagand. 



This very beautiful and graceful wader has been a special 

 favourite of mine ever since I began seriously to study it. It is 

 one of the most numerously-captured species during the winter, 

 but it is not by any means easy to keep in captivity. The 

 difficulty lies in the fact that the birds' legs and feet must be 

 kept damp in order that they may thrive, as otherwise the skin 

 about their hocks cracks and dries, and they become lame. 



I used to turn out the birds that did not seem to be doing well 

 on the pond in the Museum grounds, generally with clipped 

 wings, and several lived there for some time, remaining most of 

 the time on masses of " kalmi " or water-convolvvilus. Three 

 males are still (February) there, two of which are full- winged, but 

 seem to have no desire as yet to go away. When standing on 

 the weeds, they are most difficult to see from the other side of the 

 pond, which is about sixty yards across, but on the wing they are 

 most conspicuous objects. In this respect they much resemble 

 the Paddy- bird or Pond- Egret {Ardeola grayi), which has a similar 

 plan of coloration, with a brown upper surface and concealed 

 white wings. Both birds have a somewhat similar flight, and, 

 were they insects, one would probably be said to mimic the other. 

 No doubt, however, in both birds the coloration is merely pro- 

 tective. When in breeding- plumage both the Egret and the 

 Jsiqsink are easy to see, especially the latter, which is a very 

 conspicuous object in the pied livery of the nuptial season, set off 

 by the long black tail. A female on the tank last May had 

 assumed nuptial jDlumage, as had one male, while two other males 

 and a pair of young birds still remained in undress. 



The old hen would only allow one male to remain near her, 

 this being one of the winter-plumaged adults ; the fuU-plumaged 

 male was not allowed to approach, and even the favoured bird, 

 although he often drew near her in a stooping attitude, which 

 was the nearest approach to courtship I saw, was driven off if he 

 got too near. The birds never made any display of their beautiful 

 white black- bordered wings, which rather surprised me. I found 

 that the birds were distinctly pugnacious about this time, observing 



